"Final Approach" was a good episode for what it was trying to do. I think some people might say that there wasn't as much action in it, but I think the action was there in trying to escape and return back to civilization. The main action was in keeping rival gang leaders from killing each other. That was the heart of the story. Learning to trust others and work with them. Finding out the real truth before you jump to conclusions. And for those lessons, it was good. And of course, there was a great moment when MacGyver had all of the kids working together to build a landing gear for the plane and they learn that maybe life doesn't have to be as dark as they think it is. I also really liked MacGyver's story about "losing" his knife. Good point. There was definitely a strong message about seeking the truth. "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

QUOTE (sonyab Feb 23 2005 @ 10:43 AM )

Love this episode.. I voted excellent. I loved how Mac helped the teens. That one teenage girl flirted with Mac just so her boyfriend would get jealous.. Mac stopped her flirting. he nipped it in the bud.. Great ending loved the end.. :

QUOTE (Alex-Wylie Feb 23 2005 @ 01:47 PM )

A great episode! It's funny and a little mean what Pete is putting Mac throw in the flight simulator. Once more we can see that Mac is not the normal hero type, he has fears like everybody else. But he's trying his best even in a hopeless situation. And his experiences with help him later.

Brownies yummy! Good idea.

Funny note: When Mac tries to keep the boys from fighting I was perplexed. I never heard MacGyver yelling like that before or after and from his deep "TIME-OUT!!!!!!" I was appalled and thought 'Boy, if I would live in the MacGyver Universe, I hope he would never yell like this at me!"

What I really like is that Mac takes the time and to get through to every youngster in a special personal way, by simple being himself and doing the things that are necessary to survive.

He builds a tent, goes fishing with Lucer, and starts to impress Gina and Ramone with his culinary art. He convinces Gina to trust him and fill him in. And after saving them from the snake he is trusting Ramon and Lucer.

When a mountain lion is after Tomy he helps the boy without embarrassing him.

"Hey, listen I'm sorry about that. I knew you could have handle that on your own, but I wanted to test a theory. No bad feelings?

Finally the work together to get home and Ramone to the hospital and in doing so they all find their little truth and something to go on.

QUOTE (MacGyverGod Feb 24 2005 @ 01:00 AM )

I voted for good and that's what this episode was. Good!!! That program was well found to learn those kids something about theirselves. Gina was attractive huba huba huba, whoa mama!!! But the two most dangerous boys were Luthor and Ramon. They were good, nice action.His deep "Time-Out" was one of the best parts of the episode. It's his voice of authority. I just love it when the kids don't want his brownies anymore and Ramon saying: Cavanaugh numero dos. Adios essay.Or something like that. Above all one of seasons 2 better episodes.

QUOTE (Alex-Wylie Feb 28 2005 @ 05:43 AM )

Oh, and I forgot I also liked the 'knife losing story' certainly for the truth seeking but that was not the only reason. I was impressed that MacGyver admitted so easily that he had made a mistake.

As I said once before I don't like lying. That was always so but I unfortunately didn't always act that way. As a young kid I was a 'Sandi of Lies'. Whenever I did something wrong that I was aware of and my mother didn't see it, I lied about it when she asked me. Not to have advantages but because I had terrible fear of getting punished. Well, I got used to lying and I did that with other people too when I made a mistake even if I didn't knew if would get punished. I didn’t feel good about it but I couldn’t overcome it either.

You all can imagine who changed that finally and forever. Being 13 years old, without any family, wishing so much for somebody who would care, all it needed were two seasons of Mac during three month and my newfound role model/stand in-father had brought me back on the right way.

"He's got honesty the way some people have diseases…incurable" like Jack says in Partners and since I wanted so badly that he could be proud of me, I let me gladly infect with the this disease.

THANKS

QUOTE (Sheepy Jan 11 2006 @ 10:19 PM )

An absolute evergreen, if you call an episode that...This episode lingered in my mind for several years after the show had been taken off screen somewhere in 1989 or so. Every now and then I had flashes of a small airplane somewhere in a sandy area, like a desert or something like that. There were kids involved.I didn't realize it had been a MacGyver episode until I saw the reruns many years later. When something lingers for so long it has to be brilliant. I voted excellent.

QUOTE (MACGYVERISMYDAD Jan 12 2006 @ 01:55 AM )

i voted excellent. i think the morales mac installs in these kids is just what they needed. by the end he has them all working together to do a macgyverism. great!! I laugh every time i hear mac break luther and ramon up. he comes in kicks up a dust storm and bellows TIME OUT!! hillarious. i never heard that tone from mac before either..it almost didn't sound like his voice. another funny part in this one is when everyone but luther is helping to gather mud to fill in the trough and mac in making the front skid/wheel for the airplane. and you see luther walking by and mac glances over at him and luther jerks his head the other way really fast. i dont know why but i think that part is hillarious!! all in all great episode. also the story about the knief was excellent as well

QUOTE (jb.jones Jan 23 2006 @ 01:53 AM )

I'm new to the forums, so hi!

Great piece of trivia that no one has mentioned: The actor who played Luther, starred in the film "The Warriors" an excellent movie about a Coney Island gang. I think the casting cross over is intentional. Did anyone else notice this?

QUOTE (MacNymph Jan 23 2006 @ 08:07 AM )

I never saw that movie so I didn't notice it.

but HI!

QUOTE (MacsChick Jan 23 2006 @ 03:11 PM )

I voted OK, but I almost voted good. I like all episodes of MacGyver, but I'm like some of the other people here who get tired of too many issues on the show, so I was a little uncertain about the gang angle. But, as I watched it, I found myself enjoying it. I love how the girl flirts with Mac (insert myself in scene here ), there's a beautiful close-up reaction shot of him when the plane's about to go down (those eyes!), and I agree about the deep bellowing of "Time out!" Classic! It scared me when his voice went that deep, too. He can be a pretty intense guy, though, especially if you see him lose it on Stargate. I wouldn't want to make him mad! It's righteous anger, though, because he's usually getting mad over something he cares about.

QUOTE (Lothithil Sep 29 2006 @ 10:48 AM )

Very good ep! Loved the simulator malfunction, and Mac's vague threat at Pete: "I remember things like this, Thornton!"

Love seeing Mac work with the kids. He is so 'in his element' out in the boonies! I liked how he said that it had been a tough two days, and that he felt that he'd have done more good if he'd had more time with them... then the plane goes down!

I found this to be quite a good episode in spite of some pretty annoying traits. Like the very 80's stereo-typed teenagers. The black kid, the Hispanic gang-banger, the jock and the bad-girl... could they be any more stereo-typed??

Some of the FX in this episode where laughable too.. the plane crash being top ranking amongst them. Did anyone not notice that whole scene seemed to be in fast forward?

That black guy just irritated the hell out of me. The way he walked with his arms hanging straight down all the time looked like a zombie out of Micheal Jacksons Thriller video.

But in spite of these considerable annoyances, it still had some redeeming features and scenes.

I like that it shows MacGyver actually knows how to fly a plane. Thats somethign I'd forgotten about.

I love the opening scenes with Pete telling MacGyver he rigged the simulator.

"I remember things like this Thornton!"

And of coarse, the priceless story about MacGyver's SAK being stolen and then finding it at home.

I like that it shows MacGyver actually knows how to fly a plane. Thats something I'd forgotten about.

I was thinking about this the other day... the fact that Mac can fly an F-16, a Cessna jet (or whatever that plane was in 'The Odd Triple') and a small aircraft--but there is never a mention of Mac having a pilot's license.

I have to assume that he does have a license... I doubt that he'd agree to co-pilot if he didn't... plus he'd never have been able to charter that plane that he flew in 'Legend of the Holy Rose, pt 2'. He'd have had to flash a license for that!

sorry it in 4:50 am in the morning where I'm at.It should be bdu.Dress Battle Uniform.Sorry for the uppercase.I use uppercase at the time.It was not ment for yelling.I just got in the habit of using uppercase..

I'd intended to comment on this episode before, but I figured I'd better go back and watch it again first! I really like it, in spite of the cheesy plot; although watching it again after having read the background bible, I'm now aware that the original plans for the story were very different, and there are still a few echoes of the original themes.

I especially liked the early scenes, with the byplay between Mac and Pete; always great to see.

I confess that part of my enjoyment of the episode comes from personal experience: a couple of times, I've been on trailbuilding work parties where we were providing supervision for “young troubled persons” who were out on the trails to meet their community service requirements as a condition of whatever probation they’d been given. In other words, they were mostly out in the woods because it beat jail. The programmes are unofficially referred to as ‘hoods in the woods’.

They didn’t much like it out there, either, but the man who was overal head of that particular trail project was a genius at working with volunteers of every type. He managed to get most of the kids at least somewhat engaged – if only to out-do each other in demonstrations of machismo with wheelbarrow-loads of gravel. Possibly the fear of being shown up by us Old Folks got them stirred up a bit.

I like the giggle from Mac when Pete says he has the job and then offers him a bonus and Mac says he wants them to do the Colorado river kayak race ...and also the "Time Out" part...doesn't really sound like RDA

I actually think Mac losing his temper is one of the more compelling and convincing parts of this episode. It's true in real life: people who rarely get angry tend to really go off the deep end when they do lose it.

Several other things about the episode struck me as more implausible than that: it's out of character for Pete to pull a meanspirited trick on MacGyver (or anyone else) like he does with the flight simulator. (Jack Dalton would, but Pete?) It's entirely too perfect that Mac suddenly needs those worst-case skills just a few days later. Whoever is in charge of the rehab program would have to be absolutely insane to send Luther and Ramon off in the same group with the bad blood between them, and I have a hard time believing the groups would be coed either. Someone else has mentioned that the footage of the plane crash shown from outside the plane looks like fastforwarding video; I noticed that too.

Still a great episode, though, with plenty of plot tension and MacGyverisms. And Mac's story of his "stolen" knife is a rare case of getting the moral lesson across without sounding preachy. I don't remember seeing this one when I was a kid and it's not one of the ones I usually go to on DVD, but I've enjoyed it every time I have gotten around to watching it.

The scene of the plane crashing was so obviously fake it made me laugh.

And that loud 'TIME OUT!' Mac yelled? Not his voice. Not even close. He already yelled a few words and then to yell again and get that low? His voice doesn't go that low, never has in the entire series when he's raised his voice.

I really, really enjoyed this episode... and you have already mentioned most of my reasons why.

This is another of the first episodes exploring the more human sides of MacGyver. I like the simulator scene--and though I'm certain Pete thought it was really amusing to see Mac sweating in that thing--there was a good point; I mean, even if Mac wasn't supposed to fly the plane, Pete surely knew it wouldn't hurt if he familiarized himself with the controls, just in case of an incident or accident.

Mac is just fantastic with kids/teenagers. All right, we're all biased when it comes to a beloved TV character, but his attitude, and the way he speaks to them... As a viewer, I think you actually can learn a lot. Yet, he lets us know that he's not perfect, and that he's learned from his mistakes.

I must confess I jumped when I heard him yelling "Time out!" It didn't sound like his voice at all, though I think it was--we're just not used to hear Mac yelling like that.

The mud slide was a great idea--but it must have taken quite some time. And I'd loved to see the actual landing with that plane, too... I can't imagine it would be *that* simple, it *would* require a lot of foam indeed... and what about the other wheels and the risk of keeling over?

Um, no it could mean they re-recorded the voices in a studio. It's a very common process called "Looping" or ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement). It's used when they get unwanted noise or bad recoding of voices in the original scenes, so they re-record the voice in a studio.

Having said that there are some scenes which I mentioned in the nitpick forum which are obliviously shot in a studio even though they are meant to be outside so that scene could be one of them as well.

I liked this one because it places Mac in a survival situation, not just for himself but a group of teens who happen to be rival gang members. He teaches all of them to work together as a group or perish. Mac has a way of getting through to kids.

I liked this one because it places Mac in a survival situation, not just for himself but a group of teens who happen to be rival gang members. He teaches all of them to work together as a group or perish. Mac has a way of getting through to kids.

That mountain lion probably didn't hurt either!

Facing one of those things will make anyone sit up and recheck their priorities.

Just watched this one yesterday and hadn't seen it in years. Forgot what a great episode this was. Funny I had just watched the later one where Mac takes the group of Pheonix employees on a relaxation exercise in the wilderness. I always like when Mac is out on the woods having to rely on his resources for food, water, etc. I wonder where Final Approach was filmed? The scene on the rocks with the mountain lion looks similar to the famous ranch where the Lone Ranger series and countess westerns were filmed.